Preparation of food items often requires a preparation step in which a food item is cut using a knife or other sharpened kitchen tool. The preparation step may involve cutting a serving portion from a larger portion of a food item, such as a slice of cooked meat product. The preparation step may alternatively involve preparation of multiple smaller size pieces from a food item, such as a vegetable, by an operation such as chopping, dicing, or slicing.
These steps may be carried out on a counter top or other flat permanent surface in a kitchen or other food preparation area. These steps may also be carried out on flat temporary surfaces referred to as cutting boards. The use of cutting boards allows for the cutting, chopping, etc. to be accomplished in many areas of the kitchen while protecting permanent surfaces from disfiguration from cutting tools or from fluids released from a food item during the processing step. The use of the cutting board may also assist in the transfer of the food item to a cooking vessel. Finally, cutting boards are susceptible of being cleansed in a dishwasher allowing for convenience in cleaning after food preparation and potentially reducing risk from microbial hazards.
Despite their convenience, cutting boards may present a health risk if not properly cared for and cleansed. Raw produce may present various bacterial pathogens such as Shigella sp., E. coli sp. (including E. coli 0157H7), Salmonella sp. and viral pathogens such as Hepatitis A. The levels of these pathogens on produce can often be reduced to a level that will not affect most individuals by rinsing affected produce with fresh water shortly before serving. However, residual amounts of pathogen may be transferred to a surface where produce is placed in the food preparation process such as a cutting board. Proper cleansing of the surface can prevent any pathogen so deposited from contaminating other foods.
In the case where surfaces are not cleansed properly, pathogens may be transferred to other foods that are prepared on the same surface. This cross contamination of foods is particularly an issue where the food that is contaminated is stored in a way that allows the pathogen in the contaminated food to multiply to the point where it can cause illness in a person consuming the contaminated food.
Raw meat and processed meat products may present bacterial pathogens such as E. coli (including E. coli O157:H7), Salmonella sp., Campylobacter jejuni and Listeria monocytogenes. Careful preparation of raw meat and processed meat products can prevent these potential pathogens from causing illness as a result of eating the meat or meat product. However, it is important that cutting boards used in preparation of meat and meat products be cleansed properly between uses to prevent cross contamination of food products, thereby further reducing the risk of food-borne illness. It is especially important that pathogens present in meat products that would be killed or inactivated during normal cooking not be transferred to foods that are raw or already cooked.
To prevent this transfer, health authorities, food companies and others recommend having cutting boards dedicated for use with certain types of food products during food preparation. For example, in a kitchen a cook may prepare vegetables, breads, fruits and meats for one meal thereby requiring up to four different cutting boards in the course of preparing a meal. Increasingly, health authorities and food companies also recommend that cutting boards be permanently dedicated to one food type or at the very least food preparers should ensure that a cutting board used to for preparation of raw and processed meats only be used for such foodstuffs.
It would therefore be useful to have a cutting board kit for storage of multiple cutting boards. It would also be useful to have the various dedicated cutting boards permanently labeled to ensure consistent use by all personnel using the same kitchen facility.